Yellow raspberries? Do you like them?

blueridgemtngrl(6b)May 4, 2009

I put in three Fall Gold this spring, but I have heard mixed reviews on the taste. I'm just curious what others think of the taste. Also, what do you think about Purple Royalty. I don't have any yet but am thinking of buying some.

I have that variety. I also have 3 other varieties of red raspberries, including one fall red raspberry.

Out of all I have, yellow are the least flavorful. but, they are sweet and so PRODUCTIVE! Absolutely loaded with fruit all summer long. They basically never stop making berries, all the way until they are covered in snow.

You will have two harvests - 1: early summer. Then after all summer berries are eaten, new flowers on new shoots bloom, and within few weeks you will have 2nd harvest until late fall.

My yellow raspberries are starting to bloom already, when other varieties are just getting leaves. They grow very strong thick shoots, much shorter shoots than regular (summer) varieties.

Be careful in how you prune the fall bearing raspberries. The schedule is very different from summer varieties. Some people will suggest just cutting them to the ground in the winter. But you will LOOSE the early summer harvest completely if you do that.

I cut to the ground all old branches that are done with berries after the early summer harvest phase (July). Leave all the new shoots. New shoots will have fruit a few weeks later the same year. Those fall fruiting shoots should NOT be cut down to the ground in the late fall. Just cut the tops that had berries on them (about 8 inches). This schedule will not reduce how much berries you get in the fall.

I don't know how far south it will grow (probably wherever other raspberries will), but Honey Queen is the tastiest raspberry of any color I have ever eaten. IMO, they don't have the same excessive tartness that some reds do, and they don't have that insipid blandness that some yellows do. They are just plain delicious. And they're yellow, I nearly forgot to mention. I don't think they're as productive as other raspberries, though. I remember there were less of them in our row when I was a kid, but I don't know what variety the red ones we had were, so I don't know what I'm comparing them to, production-wise. Taste-wise, though, they've beaten any type of raspberry I've eaten since.

I grew Fall Gold raspberries a number of years ago. They produced well for a few years then declined despite the success of their brethren Fall Red raspberries growing right beside them. I replanted and the same thing happened -- a couple years of mediocre yields, then virtually nothing, so I gave up. I found their taste to be rather bland compared to regular red raspberries. Try Royalty Purple raspberries for a change -- they have a nice taste with VERY LARGE berries and they mature late for an extended spring harvest.

My first year Anne raspberries produced a fair crop and continue to produce even after a hard frost here in N. Alabama in mid Nov. Question is when and how to prune them -- I presume they are to be cut to ground level in late winter, but what about new growth next year?